Road construction equipment, the complete guide of the most effective ones in the market. Modern roads have become a key aspect of development. Without roads, nothing significant can be achieved in a locality economically. The key sectors of an economy influenced by good roads are Education, Health, Trade, Industry and defence.
The Construction Techniques for the Perfect Road In the 21st century have been technologically perfected and mechanized to increase durability, rideability, and safety and reduce the construction period. Highway engineers are professionally licensed to design modern roads using elaborate road construction techniques.
The following types of equipment are extensively used during any road construction projects:
Excavator-It’s a heavy machine used for excavation. An excavator efficiently removes the soil, gravel and rocks on areas of the road where they are not required-cut and fills in locations which require their level to be raised by new material.
Bulldozer- A bulldozer is a heavy machine that is used for clearing and grubbing thick vegetation to open up an area for initial construction activities.
Grader-A grader is a heavy machine used to reshape the road by cutting down the excess material on the road surface to the required level. Graders are also used in mixing the gravel material with water to the required moisture level before uniformly spreading it on the road surface for compaction.
Roller/Compactors-A roller is a heavy machine with a rolling drum that is required to exert the right pressure on the road surface. The drum dynamically vibrates at a certain set frequency to achieve the compaction requirements of the road layers.
Backhoe loader-A backhoe loader is a heavy machine that has two buckets-like structures that are used to scope material before it is emptied onto a dump truck or ferried to another location. The front bucket structure is bigger in size and capacity as compared to the rear structure.
Paver-A paver is a heavy machine that is used in the application of road surfacing material commonly referred to as asphalt. A paver heats the asphalt concrete to maintain its temperature while applying the material on the road to the required thickness and width. Pavers are highly mechanized and function to the exact specifications during operation on the road.
Ripper-A ripper is a heavy machine that is normally used to dig the surface of the road with a hoe like structure. The dug area is linear and covers a long stretch following along the tuck. Usually, a riper could have 4-6 digging structures that are used to broaden the width of the dug area.
Bowser-Bowsers are trucks with large round tanks with the capacity of holding a large volume of liquids-water, Bituminous substance, sprayers etcetera. The tracks can be modified to allow the application of the substance uniformly at the preferred locations. For road construction, the bowsers usually have a series of taps that applies the bituminous material at a certain spray rate.
Dump Trucks-Dump trucks are very critical in moving the material from one location to the other. The most commonly used is a 30tonne dump truck.
Tower Cranes-Tower cranes are crucial in the movement of large loads beyond the ability of persons at the construction site. The cranes have tower structure parts that are plug and play which can be quickly assembled onsite where the lifting of the heavier load is to occur.
All these pieces of equipment have revolutionized the road construction process like never before!